Typical agriculture sectors like animal production and processing, aquaculture and its processing, and fruit and vegetable processing, can be water-intensive and generate complex and sometimes severe pollution.
As test results confirmed the presence of the dreaded Avian Influenza (AI) virus in a Malir farm on Saturday evening
Culling of about 1.50 lakh chickens at Omega Poultry Farm in the city's Badda area continued for the second consecutive day on Sunday. The avian influenza virus was detected at the poultry farm on Friday and the livestock department started culling the chickens of the farm on Saturday. Dhaka district livestock officer Sheikh Saidur Rahman told New Age on Sunday that they culled 95,048 chickens of the farm till 7:00pm, and would kill 54,000 more chickens.
The country's poultry industry continues to be in grave peril with sales already halved due to panic among consumers in the wake of recent bird flu outbreaks, operators said. Many restaurants have already taken chicken off their menus while home consumption too has slumped. "We are going broke. We are selling chicks to poultry farmers at a token price to minimise our losses,' said Shah Habibul Haque, director of Aftab Bahumukhi Farm Ltd, a leading poultry hatchery. He claims their business has incurred on average a loss of Tk 2 crore every month since November last year. "Things look even grimmer for small farm owners. They are losing their capital,' he said adding that currently they charge only Tk 7-8 for a day-old chick, about one third of production cost at Tk 22. The avian influenza, which broke out in Bangladesh early last year, has now reached epidemic proportions sweeping across the poultry industry that accounts for over 1.6 percent of GDP. According to official data, the government has detected bird flu virus in 152 farms in 43 districts and culled 6.42 lakh fowls as of February 16. Operators report a loss of nearly Tk 5,000 crore because of plummeting sales coupled with a steady rise in the prices of poultry feeds. "At a rough estimate, we have made a loss of nearly Tk 5,000 crore,' said Moshiur Rahman, convener of Poultry Industries Co-ordination Committee. Industry sources said thousands of farms have been forced to shut down in a year due to bird flu outbreaks and hike in prices of feed ingredients. Around half a crore people are directly or indirectly employed in the industry involving 1.5 lakh farms. "Our sales have dropped drastically,' said Delwar Hossain, owner of Janata Poultry at the Kaptan Bazar, one of the biggest wholesale-cum-retail markets for poultry products in the capital. He said daily sales in his wholesale store hovered around Tk 1.50 lakh in January. "Now I struggle to have sales of Tk 25,000 a day,' he said. Khokon Mia, a retailer at Kaptan Bazar, said the sales at his shop have dropped 58 percent on point to point basis. In retail outlets, chickens sell at Tk 65-70 a kg, whereas only a month ago they would cost Tk 80-85 a kg. "I sold Tk 67,300 worth of poultry on January 16, but in a month, it dropped to Tk 28,000. We are going through a terrible time. People have incredibly cut down on their poultry intake,' said Khokon who also supplies live chickens and eggs to a number of city restaurants. Restaurants and party centres are having their share of troubles with chicken consumption taking a nosedive. "The consumption has fallen by around 50 percent amid bird flu scare,' said Ali Akbar Badal, general manager of XINXIAN, a Chinese restaurant at Kalabagan. Star Kabab's Karwan Bazar branch Manager Mohammad Shahin said their restaurant too has seen a sharp drop in consumption of chickens and eggs. "It's a serious crisis as the plunging demand for poultry pushes the farmers and hatcheries to huge losses,' said head of Brac Poultry MA Saleque, who believes overall consumption has been slashed by half.
The Government has allocated Rs. 500 million for livelihood-based development activities in the Eastern Province, Deputy Minister of Nation Building and Development Susantha Punchinilame said yesterday. Deputy Minister Punchinilame is currently in Trincomalee to steer several development programmes in the Eastern Province to benefit those resettling and living in the region. Referring to the funds allocated by the Government, Punchinilame said that Rs. 500 million allocated this year was the biggest amount ever allocated for Grama Seva Divisions. The money will be used to organise livestock development and farming in several selected regions, said the Minister. "The monies will be distributed to each Grama Seva Division through the Province's Development Committee,' he said. Each Grama Division will get Rs. 250,000 to Rs. 300,000 under the programme, he said. Punchinilame said that it was important to employ those who resettle in the East with their usual jobs. The Nation Development Ministry has taken several successful steps in this regard. "People are willing to resettle in the East now. We are providing them with the necessary infrastructure, houses, roads, jobs and safety,' he added.
At least 5,000 chickens have been culled at a poultry farm in the Malipur area after a report of the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed presence of H5N1 virus.The district livestock officer of Mansehra Dr Ali Akber Khan told Dawn that after the confirmation of the H5N1 virus by the NIH laboratory, over 5,000 chickens were culled in the poultry farm. He said that the infected poultry farm had been sealed, while vaccine was being administered in other areas to check the spread of the bird flu virus. Responding to a question, Dr Akber said that fortunately no worker of the said poultry farm had been infected by the virus. Meanwhile, sources in the provincial health department told this correspondent that a team of the World Health Organisation, which was already monitoring the situation in Hazara region, had reached Mansehra to review the situation.
A cow for Rs 89,000, a pig for Rs 12,000 and a goat, Rs 19,000. These are not fictional prices dreamt up by some livestock dealer. These are the prices businessmen have quoted for supplying
Just over a decade after scientists cloned the first animal, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared that meat and milk from cloned farm animals are safe to eat. The announcement
Long before the rule of pharaohs, Egyptians grew wheat and barley and raised pigs, goats, sheep and cattle. Spotty evidence had suggested that agriculture was practiced there more than 7,000 years ago, two millenniums earlier than the first royal dynasties. American and Dutch archaeologists reported last week the discovery at a desert oasis of what they say is the earliest known farming settlement in ancient Egypt. They said the animal bones, carbonized grains, hearths and pottery were roughly dated at 5200 B.C.
Several thousand fowls were culled in Gazipur and Bogra as reports of chicken dying of bird flu kept pouring in from different parts of the country on Monday. Awareness raising campaigns initiated by various government and local authorities could not stop dumping of dead fowls in the open, risking public health in some areas. Over 6,000 fowls were culled in Gazipur and Bogra after laboratory tests confirmed bird flu outbreak at least in two firms in the districts. About 100 dead chickens were found floating in a canal at Tootpara Mowlabari area in Khulna city Monday morning.
Global warming is not a uniform process. Mongolia, particularly at the high altitudes around Lake Hovsgol, has been warming more than twice as fast as the global average. Unique ecosystems are feeling the heat. Here at the transition between the steppe grassland and taiga, plants and animals are confronted with a changing environment-and the outlook is not good for the herders who are crowding up from the south.
